The militant Jihadist group ISIS released video of the beheading of journalist James Foley in retaliation, it says, for the U.S. air strikes in Iraq. Foley went missing on Thanksgiving day, 2012, in Syria. In the video Foley is kneeling against a desert landscape, wearing something resembling an orange prison jump suit. ISIS is threatening to kill another journalist they are holding if air strikes do not stop. Has the role journalists play in war zones changed? Missouri School of Journalism professors Mike McKean, Earnest Perry, and Amy Simons discuss.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDMV0EMXAOQ
Missouri School of Journalism Professor Earnest Perry said for journalists, war has changed.
Not that journalists have not been casualties in wars, but in this one they're not just casualties, they're actually used as pawns.
Perry went on to say since the United States invaded Iraq, journalists in the region have not had the protection of traveling with a military unit. Due to the guerrilla nature of the area, he said, journalists have to now worry about their own protection.
Missouri School of Journalism Professor Mike McKean said, citing a New York Times report, some of the explanation as to why we have seen so many journalists kidnapped may rest in Europe's willingness to pay randoms.
The U.S. and Great Britain have refused to pay ransoms when Americans and Brits are kidnapped, whereas in Europe, Spain, France, and other countries, are paying multi-million dollar ransoms while denying that they are doing it...Thus you are seeing folks from those countries directly targeted to raise money.
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